'Being a farmer brought me fame - and love'

When Will Young immersed himself into the world of Love Island, a glitzy future was at his fingertips - but the farm would always take priority

- LUCY ROBINSON

Having spent 56 days in the Love Island villa, Will Young's departure from the show in March looked very different to that of his co-stars. As they soaked up the post-show parties and glamour, Will was back in his wellies on the family farm.

"I'd entered during pre-lambing season, which is very intense, so there was no easing back into farm life when I came back," he laughs. "As soon as I landed, I went straight back into 15/16-hour days to help with lambing. I think it was my dad getting his revenge for leaving him to look after 300 lambs."

After appearing on the winter edition of the reality series, Will, aka Farmer Will, has hardly been out of the spotlight. In addition to finding love with Jessie Wynter, the 24-year-old has reached 1.9 million followers on TikTok, 727,000 on Instagram and he's set to attract even more interest with the release of his upcoming book.

Despite his new-found fame, Will says that his family farm is where his heart lies. "I love the farm. It's weird having my dad as my boss, but I wouldn't want to have it any other way," he says.

Even now, Will continues to work at least three or four days a week on his family farm alongside dad Andrew and older brother Thomas, calling it "the best of both worlds".

As a sixth generation farmer, Will's farm was founded in 1870 and the Youngs are the only family to have ever called it their home. While he admits that farming life can be "difficult", he knew he'd always return to his roots, regardless of what other people thought.